The Princess Chronicles
by LunaSidhe
Summary: *Spoiler warning!* Greatly weakened after the Crawler, the princess left Walter in the desert in order to seek help. An unusually serious Ben Finn finds her unconscious in the sands outside Aurora; nearly losing her makes him start to realize something.
1. Chapter 1

_This is my very first attempt at fanfic (actually, writing anything outside of required English classes in school), so please don't be too harsh! :)  
_

_I plan on continuing to the end of the game, then will go back to the beginning to work my way up until this point. All major plot points will eventually be covered, as well as several optional ones. The princess will have different types of romantic encounters with various NPCs from the game, but she will ultimately end up with Ben Finn. This is one of the points where I feel their story would be likely to begin. The pace will probably be somewhat slow, but I hope it's not too boring.  
_

_I just had a fantastic time playing through Fable 3 and would like to put to paper some of the experiences and thoughts I had while making my way through it._

(The story begins near Aurora, after the princess and Walter have fought the Crawler for the first time.)

* * *

Falling...

Falling...

Blind in a nightmare landscape of unbroken black and shifting sand... Screaming wordlessly into gale winds... Sinking, drowning...

An insistent, low-pitched murmur caught my attention.

I focused on the sound and desperately sought for the source. There! Far above, something shimmered faintly. With a surge of hope and renewed energy, I clawed my way toward it. The small spark grew in intensity as I steadily made my way upward, and I could feel the sand begrudgingly loosening its grip. Without warning, the sky overhead exploded in a blaze of light. I winced and closed my eyes against the glare.

"Princess!"

That voice... I knew that voice. I struggled to pry my eyelids apart again. Although the brightness was less painful now, I still could not see. I slowly blinked a few times and tried to make out the blurry shapes floating nearby. One drifted closer and my vision sharpened. An unfamiliar woman with exotic body paint leaned over me and scrutinized my face with piercing eyes. "She's still alive. The other can't be far away."

The other... ? A cold sense of dread started to coil in my stomach. Where was I? Who was this woman? I remembered a shipwreck... then caves... and a terrible darkness... but before I could organize my thoughts better, someone else approached. An involuntary gasp escaped me when I saw sunlight shining though a fringe of unkempt blond hair.

"Ben?" I could barely make myself heard above the wind. My throat felt like it had been scoured raw.

He was alive! Or was I dead? He crouched down next to me and his silhouette filled my field of view. I had to know. I reached up and placed my palm against the side of his face. His blue eyes widened a bit at the unexpected touch but he didn't pull away. I felt warm skin; his heartbeat raced beneath my fingertips.

I'm fairly certain ghosts do not have pulses.

With a sudden pang of self-consciousness, I started to withdraw my hand. Ben stopped me by grabbing it in both of his and squeezing gently, and then it was my turn to be surprised. After the longest of moments, he dropped his chin and looked up through his hair at me, a small smile at one corner of his mouth.

"Taking a nap in the sun? Typical royalty. You had me worried there for a while." There was a sadness in his smile that belied the joking tone.

"_I_ had _you_ worried? We thought we'd lost you!" I croaked painfully. Then I remembered. "We- oh, Avo- Walter! You have to find Walter! He collapsed after we... after we left the cave. I tried to carry him, but I couldn't!" I choked back a sob. "I wasn't strong enough! Please, you have to find him!" Before I could try to sit up, Ben put a restraining hand on my shoulder. I had to bite my lip to keep frustrated tears from surfacing. If I started crying, I knew I would completely lose what little composure I'd managed to hold onto. I hated feeling so weak!

"Don't worry," he promised, "we'll find him." He placed my hand over his heart and held it there firmly. As I met his steady gaze, the grim determination I saw there convinced me that he would do everything in his power to help Walter. It was enough.

It would have to be enough.

Another wave of exhaustion washed over me and I realized I could no longer resist its pull. My message had been delivered and there was nothing left to do but recover. Recover, and prepare to face the creature again. I closed my eyes. As the far more benign darkness of sleep rose to claim me, I felt a lingering brush of lips upon my cheek. Scents of sun-kissed hair, sand, sea salt, and well-worn leather followed me into uneasy dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

When I opened my eyes, I wasn't sure where I was. It seemed like years had passed since I'd been carried through the desert on a rough stretcher. Wracked with fever, my only memories of that tense trip were glimpses of predatory birds circling overhead, and the sun setting behind a large, ominous structure somewhere in the distance. I shuddered.

An anxious whine brought me out of the uncomfortable reverie a split second before a wet, sloppy kiss covered the side of my face. Ah, the one constant in my life.

"Hey, boy." I smiled and Dog took that as tacit permission to happily snuffle my ear. At least _some_ things never changed.

"You're awake, " a woman said. "Good."

I tried to sit up and winced. Every muscle in my body felt tight with disuse and I wondered how long I'd been lying on this bier. The woven mat underneath me did very little to cushion the stone. Not that I was complaining, mind you.

I turned my head toward the voice and saw the strangely painted woman from the desert again.

"My name is Kalin and you are in the city of Aurora. I have much to tell you."

Aurora... So despite everything that had happened, we'd finally gotten here.

I rolled onto one side and gripped the edge of the mat to help maneuver myself onto one elbow. There, that was better. Looking around, I spied another occupied bier across the room.

"Walter. How is he?"

A woman in intricately embroidered robes leaned over Walter with outstretched hands, her eyes closed in concentration while her lips moved silently. The rise and fall of his chest assured me that he was at least breathing.

"He is fortunate to be alive, but we have seen his condition before. We may be able to help him."

"Is there another of my friends here? I thought I saw... in the desert..."

As if summoned, Ben took that moment to appear in the open doorway. "A devilishly handsome soldier by the name of Ben Finn?" He winked playfully.

Crossing the room with a few long strides, Ben climbed up onto the bier and crouched on one knee next to me. His voice softened. "Not dead yet, my friend." He watched his fingertips trace the edge of my jaw gingerly. When he looked up, his eyes held a question. I wanted to answer it, but this was not the time or place for such a discussion.

I was almost relieved when Kalin broke the silence. "Please. Come with me."

Without thinking, I looked over at Walter's prone form again. It was horrible to see such a strong, capable man lying there so helpless. What if he didn't make it? I couldn't bear the thought.

Ben must have seen it on my face. "Don't worry. He's a tough old nut – he'll pull through." I gave him a thankful smile as he hopped off the bier and helped me stand up. Hand in hand, we followed Kalin out of the room.

/

"It's so good to see you." Ben squeezed my hand. "When I was fished out of the local port and Walter and you weren't there... I thought it was all over." He glanced sideways at me and grinned. "Then I realized I was being an arse and worked my charms to get a search party out for you."

Ahead of us, Kalin had stopped next to a rune-covered, diamond-shaped doorway.

"Not that Kalin here needed much persuading," he teased.

She frowned slightly in response. "We are accustomed to misfortune," she explained, turning to me. "Now it is time you saw our city."

From deep within the walls came the sounds of ancient machinery and stone grinding on stone. The slab blocking the doorway rolled into a recess, revealing a long hallway lined with candles. In the faint, flickering light, I could barely see the ceiling tapering to a point far above.

Kalin gestured for me to go ahead.

Reluctantly releasing Ben's hand, I started down the hallway. When I stepped through the entrance several minutes later, I found myself standing at the head of a wide stairway leading down into the city.

Beneath unnaturally dark clouds, tall stone buildings scraped the sky like bones of something long dead. Here and there, lit torches did little to illuminate empty streets. I could see no other sign of inhabitants. A solitary hawk soared overhead, its harsh cry echoing across the valley.

Something terrible had happened here. _The Crawler... The Crawler had happened here..._

I was so unnerved that I didn't notice the others had caught up with me until Ben whispered in my ear.

"Welcome to Aurora, the city of nightmares."


	3. Chapter 3

Aurora, the city of nightmares... Taking in the sight below, it seemed an apt title.

Kalin came forward to stand beside me. "The Crawler did this," she explained, waving a hand over the empty buildings. "It appeared five years ago, bringing darkness and death."

If Walter and I hadn't been able to defend ourselves against the creature, I could only imagine how well unarmed townspeople had fared.

Kalin led us down the candlelit stairway as she continued. "The few of us who still live have known nothing but fear since. We never know when it will come. And we cannot hope to defeat the creature and its spawn without an army." She paused mid-step and turned to face me. Her expression was grim. "Even with someone like you by our side."

I think she expected me to argue with that assessment. Instead, I simply nodded in agreement. My experience with the Crawler had been humbling, to say the least.

Considering me, her eyes narrowed briefly before she turned back to the stairs. She didn't speak again until we'd reached the bottom.

"Ben Finn speaks most highly of you, but you are not the first savior to come here."

She began to say something else, but shook her head and stuck the end of her staff into the sand decisively. "Please, walk our streets. See for yourself, and then we may talk more."

I looked expectantly at Ben.

"Go ahead. I've seen enough already." He shivered in the warm afternoon air. "I think I'll go check up on Walter." He turned back toward the temple and started taking stairs two at a time. His quick retreat made me apprehensive.

Nodding a temporary goodbye to Kalin, I whistled for Dog and we began our exploration of the city. He barked excitedly and charged down the hill. I sighed and hobbled after him.

Running was actually exactly what I needed. I had no idea how long I'd been in recovery at the temple, but if the condition of my quadriceps was any indicator, it had been a while. By the time we reached the first row of abandoned homes, they'd loosened up tremendously. It felt good to be outside again.

Almost tripping over a dead body half buried in the sand brought an abrupt end to that.

I picked my path far more carefully afterward. Unperturbed, Dog led me from building to building, whining and scratching at anything out of the ordinary. Several villagers had left heartbreaking notes behind as testament to what had happened. I began to cringe every time Dog barked.

Scanning the dark windows above for any sign of life, I almost didn't see the man kneeling beneath a small shrine in an alcove beside one of the doorways. He stood and turned to face me when he heard our approach.

"You are the one who survived the desert night." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Yes," I agreed.

"We have not had much fortune with outsiders, but as you can see, fortune deserted us long ago." He gazed disinterestedly at me with eyes heavily shadowed by lack of sleep. "You have come to a cursed land."

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "Everybody else seems to be hiding." At least I hoped they were hiding. The alternative wasn't something I wanted to think about very much.

He turned back toward the shrine and used a burning candle to relight one that had gone out. "I am honoring the dead. My wife and my child. And I stand here because I do not fear joining them."

"I'm sorry." I didn't know what else to say. Nothing I said would make his loss any less devastating. I realized I'd inadvertently intruded on a very personal moment.

"You may read their memorials if you wish. There are many elsewhere. On statues, doorways... Wherever a memory will allow itself to live on." The set of his shoulders told me I'd been dismissed.

I left the poor man to mourn his family in peace.

The sound of my steps crunching in the sand made the silence afterward feel more oppressive. Even Dog seemed subdued. It was time to return to Kalin.

Not surprisingly, she was still waiting where we'd left her. "Now maybe you know some of what we have suffered. But as I said before, you are not the first outsider to come here."

After all I'd witnessed, I was surprised to find myself actively curious. "Who was the other?"

"His name was Logan. The King of Albion."

I think my heart stopped beating for a second. Logan? But how could that–

"Seems your big brother has been keeping secrets." Coming down the stairs, Ben had overheard the exchange. "He used to go on expeditions all the time, remember? Until about four years ago..." His voice trailed off, his expression thoughtful.

True, Logan _had_ used to travel often. As a little girl, I'd been unbearably jealous. Even with a full retinue of guards, I'd rarely been allowed as far as Bowerstone Market, yet he'd always had the freedom to go where and when he pleased. Shortly after Logan inherited the crown, he became a recluse in comparison. I'd always just assumed he was overwhelmed by administrative duties. Maybe there was more to it than that...

Kalin gave me a moment to absorb the news before continuing. "He, too, faced the Crawler. He saw all his soldiers killed by the darkness and nearly died himself. But he survived thanks to our care."

I felt the blood drain from my face. How could I have not known something that terrible had happened to him? We'd once been close despite our age difference. When he returned from that trip, I'd probably been distracted by some random bit of self-centered, teenaged drama. It hit me like a battering ram in the stomach. Would Albion have fared better if I'd been the tiniest bit more perceptive back then?

Kalin was waiting for me to compose myself. "He left with a promise. That he would return with an army and save us from the Crawler. We never saw him again."

Before I could say a word in my family's defense, she held up one hand. I bit my tongue.

"King Logan did not cause this, but ... he did _nothing_ to stop it."

It was true. He had done nothing for them. In fact, he had gone so far as to break an oath. Any argument I could have made died on my lips unspoken. I felt a hot flush spread across my cheeks.

She stepped closer and looked up at me, boldly meeting my eyes directly. "Now I ask that you do what he would not.

"Ben Finn has told us of your quest. Of your revolution. There are not many warriors left among us, but we have ships and we are willing to fight beside you. Not because your brother wronged us. Nor because we thirst for revenge, but because we want protection. We require aid if we are to survive. That is the promise you must make.

"Help us to rebuild Aurora and allow it to become a true part of your kingdom. Not a colony, not a thing to be used, but a place with a voice in your court." She extended one hand.

It was up to me now. I _would_ do what my brother could not.

I met her grip firmly, without hesitation. "I promise."

Kalin grinned fiercely.

"Then let us go to war."


End file.
